A senior European Union official has said that the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is a “political project,” according to a report.

Photo: Pixabay.com/CC0 Public Domain/piviso

Maroš Šefčovič, deputy head of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said that the contested project, opposed by countries including Poland, was not only about business, but also about politics, according to Poland’s niezalezna.pl online news service.

Nord Stream 2, which would carry gas from Russia to Germany while bypassing Poland and other countries in its region, is a highly "political and divisive project," Šefčovič said in an interview for an Austrian newspaper, as quoted by niezalezna.pl.

He also told the Die Presse centre-right newspaper that the controversial project was designed to be a way for Russia to "punish” Ukraine by depriving that country of EUR “2 billion in transit fees,” niezalezna.pl reported.

The Polish website also quoted Šefčovič as saying that the Nord Stream 2 project should be fully subject to EU law if it goes ahead.

If built, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would supply around 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, circumventing Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine.